The bathtubs that are commonly in use of necessity have high sides so as to prevent the escape of water. While the average person may easily step over the sides of such bathtub, there are many invalid persons who find it impossible to step over the sides of the bathtub and become seated therein.
Accordingly, there have been many designs proposed to ease the ingress and egress of such invalids into and out of a bathtub, see for example, the invalid's bathtub disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,977,604, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
However, while somewhat successful in easing the ingress and egress of invalids with respect to bathtubs, such designs still do not provide the full measure of safety necessary to an invalid when using a bathtub. It must be remembered that such invalids may be quite infirm on their balance, and moving into or out of a slippery bathtub merely worsens the problems associated with such infirmity.
Still further, present designs, such as the incorporated design, do not provide a rail in the tub that will completely circumscribe the entire tub. If there is an access door associated with the tub, the area of the door has been left without a rail, or the rail has been located outside of the tub, as is the case with the incorporated patent. Such a situation may not be desirable since the invalid may need a rail support in the tub as well, and any gaps in such rail are undesirable.
Therefore, there is a need for an invalid's bathtub that has an access door that provides a full measure of support and guidance to the invalid using the tub during ingress and egress, and which also has a rail located inside the tub and which completely circumscribes the tub, including the area of the tub adjacent to the door.